


Another Apocalyptic Love Story

by Little_Anxiety_Plant



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - The 100 (TV) Fusion, Angst, Apocalypse, Blood and Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, End of the World, Explicit Language, Gruesome medical themes, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Past Abuse, Pining, Post-Apocalypse, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-30
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-04 11:30:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15840372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Anxiety_Plant/pseuds/Little_Anxiety_Plant
Summary: When the apocalypse destroyed Earth, humanity was split into three. The wealthy; who retreated into the safety of space. The working-class; who lived in massive bunkers and in military bases built into the side of mountains. And the Ferals; those with the genetic integrity to survive wave after wave of radiation and start over again, despite the harshness of the elements.200 years later, those in space crash-land in their return, and those on earth go to investigate. What happens when worlds collide?





	1. The Last of the Human Race

**Author's Note:**

> This story is meant to be heavily inspired by The 100, hence the tag. However, it isn't supposed to copy everything directly. Writing fights and violence really isnt my strong suit, but I hope you enjoy my take on the story.

As everything went black, I could still hear Iverson's rough, "smoked-one-too-many-cigarettes" voice: _any landing is a good one as long as you survive._

 

I knew it was going to be a rough landing. All of my passengers knew it was going to be a rough landing. I was only a junior pilot, but I was the only person trained to sit in the cockpit. Iverson was long dead from oxygen deprivation. I barely remember the events leading up to me sitting in this chair. Everything went so fast, too fast for me to really process. One minute I was teaching Evelyn how to play the card game "War," and the next I hear the dreadful words, "Lance, you're leading the last of the human race back home."

Twenty-three adults, nine children. _That_ was the last of the human race, and most of us were barely adults. Before we had to leave, we were given a crash course of Earth survival; making a fire, finding shelter, hunting, foraging, how to read and make a map, how to dind drinkable water. I could barely even grasp the concept by the time we had to leave the Aeternum, the ship that the human race called home for the past 200 years.

Before we launched, I prayed to the heavens that we survived. I breifly considered the possibility that we didnt belong on earth anyway, but that kind of mindset wasn't one that was gonna get us to the surface. 

As I sat, I flipped a few switches in the cockpit with shakey hands, buckling the straps over my shoulders. "Thrusters... Check. Oxygen circulation... Check. Landing gear..." I paused. There was a flashing red light. "... Not check." It was too late to fix the landing gear now. I check a few other specs, take a deep breath, and place my hands on the steering mechanism. I pressed the intercom button so my passengers could hear me. "We are a-go for launch in five," I start the engine, "four," the air lock behind the ship is closed, "three, two," the doors in front of us open to the vastness of space beyond, "one." I press the 'engage engine' button on the control panel and the thrusters push the ship forward, toward Earth's atmosphere. It only takes a few minutes before the coolant in the engines kick in and you can hear it because the fans start whirring and the cabin stops shaking so much from the turbulance. 

For a few minutes, the ride was slow and calm. It was nice until we began entrance into the atmosphere. I turned on the intercom system, "entering Earth's atmosphere... Releasing external engine." You could feel the push of the lock separating. That pressure propelled us forward enough that earth's gravity really began to take over. The ship began to burn up in the atmosphere, and I really could feel the heat through the glass. I began flipping a few other switches, hoping what we had of the landing gear would be good enough. I could see where we were about to land; it was in the middle of a forest. It was so green. The foliage was all I saw before impact. 

My ears were ringing. I could hear the crackling of fire and the terrified screams of some of the children. All I could see when I opened my eyes was the part of the control panel that had been fried in the landing. I was still strapped to my seat. My arms didn't want to move, but I managed to unbuckle the locks and found leverage with my feet against the seat to push myself through a hole that was blasted through the top of the pod. 

My first two memories of Earth have incredible contrast. The warmth of the sun against my face, the sound of the wind rustling the trees around us, and the smell of what I would later learn was the aftermath of rain. Then, as I turned, I saw what the ship had done. A clear burnt path that the ship had carved out of the land. It was a solid hundred feet of ash covering the ground and scarring trees. Limbs of trees were still in flames and I could hear a branch breaking and dropping to the ground to the left of me. To the right, everyone was finding their way out of the ship, a few without their children or partners. 

I knew I couldn't stand there for long and climbed off the ship, coming around to the back. The airlock was opened likely by the passengers inside, so it was easy getting in or out. However, the sight of the passenger hold is one that would be burned into my memory forever. From where I stood, I saw two unconcious passengers. One seemed to have suffered blunt force trauma to her head, as evident by the blood dripping from her forehead onto the floor below her, the only thing holding her up being the straps across her chest. The other had been crushed by fallen cargo. A few passengers were removing what cargo and supplies they could. We found a child who wasn't injured, but had no pulse. The adrenaline from the crash must have been too much, too shocking. I carried her lifeless body outside. Her name, I soon found out, was Alesha. Her mother was Tessa Jones, one of our Doctors. She was tending to someone's wounds when I stepped out of the ship and had rushed over when she saw Alesha. 

I never thought I'd have to say this in my life. "I'm so sorry... Your daughter... Didn't make it."

Tessa took Alesha into her arms, and she held the child close. "I'll leave you be..." As I walked away, Tessa fell to her knees and I could hear the tail-end of her sentence: "... May you return peacefully to the earth and have safe passage into your next life," our mantra of the deceased. It always felt so bittersweet. 

That night, we had collected seven bodies. Four adults, three children. We set the bodies aflame, a tradition we had heard about but never got to practice in space. After our small, bittersweet ceremony, we doled out the rations we took with us and ate, sitting around a much smaller fire. The atmosphere among those of us who had the energy to stay up was solemn. We knew that from here, it could get so much worse. We just didnt know how much. 

We made makeshift beds out of the blankets in the hull of the ship and as I laid there in the cockpit, only one thought went through my mind: We are the last of the human race... _This better be worth it._


	2. Exciting Things Never Happen Here

Everyone in the Security and Travel terminal was going nuts at what we picked up on the radar. You could hear the hunk of metal burning up in the atmosphere under the miles and miles of rock and slate above us, you could see it out of the darkened plexi-glass of the surface greenhouses. Whatever it was, the interference it made with our tech was... Less than ideal. The mechanics and engineers were going crazy, running back and forth between the main floor and the maintenance room in the basement. They were bustling about the main floor trying to stop then interference before it started to affect and shut down our hydroponic farms and other necessities.

My brother, while talking to the general, lamented that it could be a pod from The Aeternum, an ark built to sustain 700 lives after the apocalypse. Even though we know what it is, that's about all we know. Its shrouded in mystery. 200 years ago, it was set for launch. Only the powerful and wealthy boarded it. The rest of the human race was packed into bunkers and air-tight military bases like ours. After the launch of The Aeternum, the glass and metal shrapnel in the storms leading up to our impending doom interfered too much with the radio and all contact with The Aeternum was lost. The last thing anyone heard was screaming and a warning signal from the ship.

I stood nearby, listening to the general's words. 

"Don't be ridiculous. The Aeternum was a fever dream. It launched too late and was crashed by the storms. It's probably a satellite that finally fell out of orbit," Shaunda stated. She sounded agitated, like Shiro wasn't the first person to suggest this. 

"That's still only a theory. If this was just a satellite, there would be no interference. They were all shut down before the storms, general," was Shiro's rebuttal. He was really optimistic about the Aeternum, like most of us were. But people like Shaunda shut us down fast. 

"Even if this was from The Aeternum, there's no way there are any people. That ark only had enough resources to sustain life for a hundred-fifty years," said Shaunda as she crossed her arms. "We're still sending a search party, Shirogane. It may provide useful scrap metal and tech." 

"I think we should send a medic or two... Just in case." There goes my brother, ever the hero. 

Shaunda ignored this statement, rolling her eyes dismissively. "Kogane, front and center."

I pushed myself off the wall that I was leaning against and stepped over in front of her, the click of my boots barely being heard over the commotion of mechanics talking and computers beeping. 

"Yes Ma'am." I hated being so formal.

"Prepare a search team for that satellite that crashed. This is a salvage mission, not an extraction. Only take necessary equipment and personnel." Shaunda glanced at Shiro. "And I'll be sending a medic with you. You'll be in Feral territory, so you may need one."

I gritted my teeth momentarily. "Yes ma'am." _Fuck you, they aren't feral._

"I will send the coordinates to your chip. This mission should only take five days total." She adjusted her glasses. "Are we clear?"

"Yes ma'am. I'll get right to it." I turned and left to call my party to action. I went to the exit and pressed a button, the doors sliding open at my request. A few mechanics hurried past me into the room. I went down the hall, took a left, and stopped at the training room. I placed my left hand-the one with the chip in it- on a panel next to the door. A mechanical female voice spoke: _authorized personnel. You may enter._ The doors slide open and as soon as I was inside, they shut behind me. 

The training bay was hardly a spectacle. You enter in a hall with three rooms on either side and one other room at the end; that was the observation room for guards like myself. Each training room was for either a specific skill or level of training. 

I went straight for the observation room. I was looking for men and women who would be good in a salvaging mission is feral territory, so I was looking for people who could do some heavy lifting and who had good reaction time. I told the guards in observation some names and they were called over a PA system to "hurry their asses to the bunker exit bay."

You could see on the screens that recorded each room, the individuals jump at the sound of their names and quickly leave their respective rooms. I thanked the guards and left the room, went down the hall, and headed back to the Security and Travel Terminal. I grabbed a mechanic or two, and had someone else call a medic to the Bunker Exit Bay. 

Once I finally made my way to the Exit Bay, most of my recruits were already geared up and readying the rovers with necessary supplies. I told the medic to prepare for extraction. 

"But I thought this was a salvage mission," he said. "That's what the report Shaunda sent to me said." He held his right arm out in front of himself in order to show me the report. 

I held up a hand, stopping him. "Shiro thinks that what we're salvaging could be a pod from The Aeternum. I know what Shaunda said, but just... Call this a precautionary measure." I paused. "If anyone gives you shit for taking extra medical supplies, send them my way." He nodded twice and went back into emergency medical to double what he had already taken out. 

I checked on each rover one by one to make sure supplies and people were loaded, then got into one where Shiro, James, and Hunk were. Shiro was a precautionary measure in case I lost control; Shaunda's orders. James had a sharp eye and quick reflexes. He couldn't lift much, but he'll be useful if things get bloody. Hunk was a top engineer. We'd likely need him to tell us what scrap was useful and what wasn't. 

I flipped on the radio. "All units one through five, are you clear for exit?" As I listened to each driver sound off, I pulled my goggles over my eyes and a scarf over my mouth and nose. "Remember, we're going into Feral territory. We don't want to make 'em angry, so only shoot if you're being attacked. If you shoot without provocation, that's call for trial. No exceptions." I glared at James through my rear-view mirror, and he sneered back at me. Once I was sure everyone was ready, I signalled to the guards at the exit door that we were ready.

After a moment, the garage door to the outside rose and we were met with long-awaited sunlight and greenery. As we drove out a dirt road, Shiro opened a map to show me our route. I could hear others who had never been on or seen the surface lament their "oohs" and "ahhs" over the radio. After a few days up here, they won't be so excited. I grabbed the mic and pressed the button so the other units could hear me. 

"You can marvel at the fucked up beauty of the woods _after_ our mission. We can't lose daylight over you wanting to frolic in the forest." That shut them up, but the silence was eerie so I connected the universal AUX to the radio and my iPod, letting Shiro shuffle through the hundreds of songs. 

"Careful, you might come off as a straying Feral," said James sarcastically. 

Why did I choose him" "I'll show you feral you _little bitch-"_ as I reached back to claw at him, Shiro stopped me by grabbing my arm. 

"He didn't mean it, Keith," Shiro said, moving my arm away from James and back to the wheel. "Right, Griffin?" 

James scoffed. "Right. It was just a joke." He crossed his arms. 

I rolled my eyes and put both hands on the wheel, gripping it tightly. I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself down. 

Hunk spoke up, probably trying to break the awkwardness of the silence that followed my... Outburst. "You know, I'm getting some crazy heat signatures on the radar over where that crash was."

"What does that mean for us," replied Shiro. 

"Well it means that either there's a forest fire because of the salvage being burnt up in the atmosphere, or... There's rocket fuel and it exploded, causing a massive fire. If it really is a pod like you were saying."

"Got anything good to say about it," I said. Rocket fuel and explosions sounds dangerous. 

"If it's a pod, it has good tech. Like a high quality radio system and computers. The Aeternum had rudementary tech from the start, compared to what we use now. Then again, it's pretty good considering the circumstances in which it was built, and could have useful parts."

"I'm almost happy that my family was too poor to go to space. Fuck, imagine how bored they got up there," James said. I could hear him rustling around in our supplies.

_I'm not._

They continued their conversation about what it would be like if their families had boarded the Aeternum, and eventually Shiro joined the conversation. I stayed quiet. _God this is gonna be a long mission._


	3. Danger is Lurking

It took us less than a day to settle in and get started on a new civilization. The children were generally left to play, while everyone else had to work. Most of us were building shelters, collecting firewood, foraging, hunting; whatever we could think of, really. We couldn't waste precious daylight, so for the last two days, we've been getting up early to get to work.

Everyone had sort of put me in a position of power. I guess it was because I was given all of the written earth information, but I don't think that was a good reason to make me be a leader. There were plenty of other adults, anyway. But because I was labelled the leader, I mostly would check up on everyone, and see if anyone needed help.

After I checked on the hydroponics people who were testing soil and water nearby, I returned to the ship where my friend Pidge was. She was younger than me, but she was a genius. When I pushed past the curtain we used as a "door" for the pod, I saw her sitting with her legs crossed with dozens of salvaged devices surrounding her. She was typing away at a tablet when I sat next to her on the floor. 

"How's that radio going," I asked as I picked up a piece of tech. 

Pidge momentarily stopped her typing and glanced up from the screen. "Not terrible. Definitely better than I thought it would. For now, we only have short range communication. About a mile or two in all directions." She lifted one gadget. "Heres our main radio. This is gonna boost the signal of a couple walkie talkies. I can make five with what I can tear up from the console."

"Wait, can't you use the PA system? That didn't get fried in the landing," I said. 

She was quiet for a second. "Oh my god, Lance, You're right." She looked almost surprised. "That could boost our signal another couple of miles if I can get enough power to it."

She quickly got back to her feet and rushed into the cockpit. _Uh, you're welcome??_ I stood up and left the ship to go see what her brother, Matt was doing. Earlier that morning he said that he was going to have a few others help him tear apart whatever broke off of the pod in our landing and as I got closer to the site of the wreck, I could hear them banging away at some scraps. 

"-hey, whoa, be careful with that! Fuel cells are _not_ to be fucked with." Matt ran up to someone else, Taylor, and took the crowbar they were picking apart metal with. "Almost any kind of spark and you're done for." He pointed to the label on the tank that had likely been worn from ears of being maintained and sitting in the engine of a pod: _hydrazine._

Matt handed the crowbar back and stepped away, toward me. "Hey, how's it going," he asked me.

I sighed. "Stressful."

"I hear ya. Watching these guys pick apart metal is like watching a toddler run around a kitchen after they learned how to open cabinets." He motioned vaugely with his hands as he spoke. 

I laughed at his metaphor. "I can imagine. Hey, your sister figured out how to make some walkie talkies. They'll have like a six-mile radius from the cockpit." I shifted my weight to the other foot, putting my hands in my pockets. 

"Really? Thats sick." Matt seemed proud of Pidge.

"Yeah... But being able to be so far away kind of worries me... What, with Thomas talking about how he saw.. glowing eyes during his watch," I shivered at the thought of it. We'd never seen big animals in real life, but his description of it's sillouette was eerily human.

"I'm sure it was just a deer and the darkness make him freak himself out. It was our first night, we were all scared." 

Just as Matt finished his sentence, we heard a cry for help from behind us. 

"Help! Help us, she's hurt!"

"Theres something out there!"

Two people, Ally and Jordan, had Evelyn's arms over their shoulders. They were practically dragging her. As I approached, I could see what their panic was about. On the left side of Evelyn's ribcage was an arrow piercing her skin. It looked deep. I told everyone else that had started to gather to make room and had Jordan take her into the pod. I held onto Ally's shaking body and told someone else to get Tessa.

I brought Ally inside the pod as well and sat her down, making sure she wasn't hurt. I sat next to her and settled an arm over her shoulders, rubbing her arm as she put most of her weight into me. Not very long after we got inside, Tessa came in and was instantly at Evelyn's side, beginning by cutting open her shirt and taking a look at the wound. Jordan sat on the floor at Evelyn's head, pushing hair out of her face and rubbing her cheeks.

I turned a bit to address Ally. "Hey  
.. Ally, can you tell me what happened? Or what you saw?"

She sniffled and wiped her nose. It was red and her eyes were puffy. She looked so scared as she stuttered out her answer. "We-we were just collecting firewood and berries and suddenly Evelyn screams.. All we saw was... This- _thing..._ I don't even want to call it h-human..." Her voice cracked and she started sobbing again. 

"Hey, its ok..." I squeezed her closer for a second before letting go and standing up. "I'm gonna go round everyone up. Make sure they're close and within sight of someone with a gun." With that, I left the room. 

Everyone was already pretty close, likely awaiting information. I told everyone on watch what Ally told me, and to keep a close eye on the trees; where archers are more likely to hide. I told everyone else a much more vauge recount of Ally's words. I didn't want to stir too much of a panic, even though I knew a few of them caught a glimpse of the arrow jutting out of her body. I got a few questioning looks, but said that it's all I knew, which wasn't totally a lie. We really didn't know much. I told the farmers they'll have to end their tests for today and to just work on what they can around our camp. Everyone accepted that they wouldn't get much else out of me and busied themselves again. everyone but Matt, really. He stepped forward after the crowd broke. 

"Is that really all she told you," he asked. His brows were knitted and his arms were crossed. 

"Yeah, kind of... They were just out getting firewood and... Evelyn was attacked." I put my hands in my jacket pockets. 

"Did they see what attacked her?" He was probing. 

I pulled him into the pod. "She said they saw something that didnt look human."

Jordan looked up from Evelyn when he heard my voice. "No, it looked human alright... Just not human enough."

"How?" Matt inquired. He sat down near Jordan. 

"We only caught a glimpse of it, but it was tall. It had some sort of tribal mask so I didnt get to see its face."

"I guess we aren't the only ones here, then, huh?" Matt said as he leaned forward with his forearms on his knees. 

"No, I guess not," I found myself echoing his words. I leaned on the wall and crossed my arms over my chest, glancing outside. Everything seemed so peaceful. I prayed it wouldn't get any worse.


	4. Strangers Among us

I flicked on the lights of the rover as we watched the sun set, streaking the sky with vibrant purples and oranges. As beautiful as I always thought it was, night time was always much more dangerous in these woods. It's when "ferals" tend to be outside of their homes, hunting and collecting. After a while, I radioed the other units, telling them that we'll be stopping for the night. I could definitely go on another few hours myself, but as Shiro would say, "you have to consider the needs of everyone else."

I stopped the rover in the middle of the woods, turning on the inside lights before making sure all of our windows were rolled up in case of wind or rain. Shiro crawled into the back where we'd be sleeping before I even stopped the rover. I crawled back as well, just as hunk was passing out sandwiches he had made. I sat in the far left corner, close to the back doors. He handed me a sandwich and I happily obliged, always happy to eat his food even if it was as simple as cold cuts. He always seemed to make it taste better. 

I had kept the speakers playing my music, so luckily we weren't eating I silence, but it wouldn't have been much of a problem since Shiro kept going on about god knows what. I wasn't too interested in the conversation he was having with James and Hunk. After finishing my food, I adjusted some of the blankets, hoping to make myself a more comfortable place to sleep. 

"You know you don't need to nest anymore, right, Keith?" Said James in that stupid sarcastic voice. 

"Fuck off, James." I removed my goggled and scarf and set them down on a container, then laid myself down, facing away from the group and pulling my knees a bit closer to my chest. They continued to talk and ignored me, which I preferred. I listened for a short while longer before my eyes grew heavy and I was pulled into sleep. 

I was woken abruptly by Shiro's voice. As I sat up, I noticed our back door was open and some of my men were talking and mulling about. Hunk was sitting on the edge of our rover, typing away at the hologram his arm is producing. I didn't know where James was.

"God, what time is it?" I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and pushed my hair back, trying to use my fingers to brush out some of the knots that formed im my sleep.

"It is..." Hunk switched screens. "Seven-oh-three." 

I stretched my arms in front of me. "Twenty-seven minutes until we get going again."

Shiro looked at me with a brow raised. "Why so soon?"

"I want this mission done and over with." I pulled myself to the edge od the rover and hopped out, adjusting my clothes and stretching my legs. "Or if you want, we can leave now."

"Don't be ridiculous, Keith," Shiro said as he handed me my goggles and scarf. "They need time to wake up."

I pulled my hair up into a practical and less-than-sexy messy bun. "And I'm giving them that time." I took the goggles and pulled them over my head, letting them rest around my neck. The scarf came next, but I just shoved it into my jacket pocket. It was small and thin, so it didn't take up too much space anyway. 

As I was readying myself for the day, James approached. "Good morning, sleeping beauty."

"Where were you?" I asked, ignoring the teasing name.

"I was just taking a piss. I can do it where you can see if you want, next time." He crossed his arms and smirked at me, like he just made the world's greatest comeback.

"You say it like there's anything to be impressed about." Hunk made an 'oooohhh' sound at my quip, and I walked away with no interest in James's bad comments right now. I told the units how long they had to finish their mornings before we set off again, and I was met with little resistance. 

Half an hour later, everyone had returned to their rovers and I was back in the driver's seat. I put the key in the ignition and revved up the vehicle, setting off down the trail with the others behind me. It was a fairly uneventful drive for the better part of the day. Shiro put on some music, and James was nice and quiet. Approaching 12 o'clock, we found ourselves in Feral territory, marked by a sign that said "no entry. turn around."

I grabbed the radio mic. "Everyone; eyes open, windows up. We're in Feral territory. Protocol states no shooting unless provoked. We are not here to incite a war." Each unit one by one stated that they understood my words and we kept going. I watched the trees mostly, since that's where they prefer to do their hunting from but I never saw anything noteworthy. 

As we got closer to sunset, I heard a girl's scream in the distance and stopped my rover. I grabbed the radio mic. "Did anyone else hear that?"

"Yeah, it sounded like someone's scream."

"Its none of us."

"We've been in the rovers since three."

I looked to Shiro. He grabbed the mic and took over, telling everyone to send one person from their units with him. As he put the mic back, he looked at me. "I'll go check it out. You stay here and watch the trees."

"No, I'm going with you." I opened the driver's side door and got out, shutting it. There's no way I was going to miss this action. 

"Keith, you should stay here. It could be dangerous," Shiro said as I can around to the front of the rover. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not gonna get hurt. This isn't my first time out here. Just trust me, ok?"

Shiro sighed, rubbed his face and stared at me with a worried look on his face for what felt like forever. "Fine. But the moment something bad happens, you have to come right back here. No matter what."

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say, Shiro." I walked over to the small group of people that he'd called out of the rovers and told them what we'll be doing. 

Shiro stayed next to me as we followed the direction of the scream. Someone noted that we're already really close to our coordinates, and a quick look at the screen that my arm produced confirmed the suspicion, which was strange since we were pretty far from any feral camps. The moment we heard people talking, we hid in the brush. Shiro and I hid behind a couple trees, and I peeked around to see if the people were, by chance, people I knew. I was shocked by what I saw. They weren't feral at all, they were just normal people. For a moment I was calm, but then I saw the source of the scream. A little girl who's head was bludgeoned by an axe. The other people were trying to pick her up and drag her away, looking frantically about for the source of the thrown axe. I glanced up in the trees and saw nothing; the attacker must have already left. I looked at shiro and he nodded his head toward the people, making various signals with his hands that basically translated to "we should follow them." I nodded my agreement and motioned to our unit, keeping myself low as we followed the two strangers back to their camp.

It wasnt long before many of our questions were answered. These were definitely not ferals. They spoke English and used guns. And they also had to have been from the Aeternum, evident by the crashed pod-turned shelter that people were going in and out of. I guessed that they couldn't have landed more than a few days ago since their camp wasnt much more than a few shelters, a fire pit, and a place to store their food. 

I looked toward Shiro, wondering what we should do. He motions for us to fall back and return to the rovers. I nodded and our unit quietly made our way back, unnoticed by the strangers. Everyone else opened the backs of their rovers, assuming this would be a sort of break. And it was, since Shiro and I had to strategize and figure out just how we were going to deal with the strangers. He opened the back of our rover, hunk and James coming in close to hear what happened. 

Hunk spoke first. "Did you find out what that scream was?"

"The crash that jammed all of our tech _was_ , it turns out, from a pod from the Aeternum. I counted maybe thirty people," said Shiro as he grabbed the map from the passegner seat, bringing it over and spreading out out over the floor of the rover. "They're here... We're about... Here." He pointed as he spoke. "It wouldn't be hard to enter their camp. But the problem is that we didn't get here first."

"What do you mean, we didn't get here first," James asked.

"They've been attacked by ferals. Likely more than once, which means we should move quickly."

"Why don't we just go in saying we're there to save them? We are _obviously_ not Ferals. They're bound to notice that they only use simple tools and weapons," I stated, "It would be better than sneaking up on them."

Shiro rebutted quickly, "but they will obviously be scared. If they have weapons, they probably won't hesitate to shoot intruders."

I crossed my arms. _Why don't you just fucking listen to me?_ "Shiro-" 

He cut me off. "We are not risking anyone here on a _hunch_ that they _might_ not have weapons. That's final."

I could feel the growl build up in my throat but I turned and stormed off before any of the three of them could hear it. I grabbed my bag from the front seat and went off in the direction of the Aeternum crash. _If you won't do it my way, I'll do it without your help._


	5. Our Saviors in Red

Tessa was busier than ever the past two days, and we'd been attacked by the Outsiders twice just today. The first time it was a knife in Thomas's leg, and the second was a little girl, Maya. She had, as far as we could tell, wandered off in search of other wild flowers like the ones near camp. She went too far and one of the Outsiders caught her within their sights and threw a crude tomahawk right into the back of her head. She never screamed, but we found her body not soon after she went missing. 

We knew it was too late, but we brought her to Tessa anyway, just in case. We managed to keep Maya's father away long enough to remove the tomahawk and bandage her. He planned the stay in the pod with her until we had to burn her body.

Since Thomas was out of commission for a while, I took his spot watching the south-east boarder of camp. Every little noise I heard made me jump, whether it be a rabbit, a bird, or even the wind shaking the trees. I was so paranoid over another outsider attack that I was being overly cautious about every little noise I heard. 

As I leaned against a tree with the hope of relaxing, I heard some rustling in the bushes. Fueled with paranoia, I lifted my gun and aimed, looking through the sight to try and get a visual on the source of the noise. I breifly caught a glimpse of a face peeking behind a tree and decided to step forward toward it. 

I stayed quiet as I stalked the intruder, holding my gun down but keeping the safety off. The person came out, holding his hands up. He wore aviator goggles over his eyes and an oxblood-colored leather jacket. One hand held what looked like an oddly-cut machete, and the other held nothing but was clad in a glove. _Strange._

I recognized the hands being up as a universal sign of peace, but I raised the gun, aiming. "Who are you and what do you want?" I prayed that my voice wasn't shaking. We were never trained in hostile human encounters, since no one was supposed to be down here in the first place.

"My Name's Keith. We picked up your ship on our radars three days ago," he paused for a moment, "I came with a team to help you reintegrate."

As I got closer, I was able to study his machete better and noticed that it had similar carvings in the wooden handle to that of the tomahawk that killed Maya. In this moment, I should have shot him. But I decided not to. Instead, I chose to trust him. "Drop your weapon."

He was hesitant, I could tell. I would have been too if a gun was aimed at my face. But he sheathed the machete at his hip. "Listen, I only want to help."

I ignored this comment and got behind him, lowering my gun and grabbing an arm. "This way." I used that arm to guide him back to camp. I didn't know why this was my course of action, it's like I was going on autopilot. 

Once we entered camp, all eyes were on me. I shooed people away when they tried to step forward to talk to me. "Clear the pod!" Three people stepped out in confusion as I walked in. Tessa was treating Thomas's wounds. She moved to get up but I stopped her. 

"Not you. You're fine," I said. I pushed Keith down to sit in a chair.

"Hey, I'm not here to hurt you. Like I said, I only want to help," he said, sounding frustrated. 

I called Matt into the pod and his sister was close behind. I didn't want too many people here, but I knew she was going to follow. "This guy claims to be wanting to help us." I motioned to Keith. 

Thomas, to my surprise, spoke before anyone else could. "His people are killing us. Why should we trust him?" 

"What are you talking about? I haven't hurt anyone..!" Keith began to get out of the chair but I pushed him back down by his shoulders.

"You might not have, but others in the woods did," Thomas spoke as he motioned a hand toward the door, where Maya's father was holding her lifeless body not far from the pod.

"I didn't do that, and neither did my squadron," Keith said, pushing my hands away. 

Matt stepped away and grabbed the knife that stabbed Thomas and the tomahawk that killed Maya, holding them out in front of Keith. "Then how about you explain why these carvings are the same on your weapon. They obviously have some sort of tribal correlation."

Keith was quiet for a long time. "This was a weapon I took from one in a battle," he paused. "As a trophy of war... They- they're savages. But we aren't, just let me radio my brother and he'll explain everything." 

Keith started to reach for his hip but Matt quickly grabbed the small device he was referring to. "There is no way in hell we're letting you do that." 

Pidge took the device from Matt's hand and studied it, "what if _we_ called instead? Checked out who's on the other side?"

I agreed, "go ahead. Then this one has no chance of calling for backup."

As she heard me say that, Pidge sat down on a closed storage chest and began tinkering with the device to find out how it worked. Soon, we heard static. Matt and I stayed close to keith in case he decided to jump at the chance to attack Pidge.

"It looks like it has a further range..." She pressed some buttons, "hello? This is Aeternum E-55. I repeat, this is a passenger from Aeternum E-55, does anyone copy?"

Soon, we heard another voice, "Garrison Salvage Unit 2 copies, but... This is a restricted channel; how did you get access to it?" His voice was deep and rough, like he'd been talking a lot for a long time. 

She looked up at us and I stepped forward. She showed me which button to press to talk. "Someone from your unit came to us claiming to be a liberator," I said. 

"Wait, Keith? What did you do to him?" There was panic in the man's voice. 

"We haven't done anything. We're being cautious. Who are you and what do you want with us?" I will trying not to panic, but I know my voice wavered. I will trying so hard to sound intimidating. 

"We're with the New York division of the former Galaxy Garrison Project. I am Leiutenant Shirogane, and three days ago, your crash showed up on our radars. The General sent us to find out what it was."

I glanced at Keith. 

"See? We aren't here to hurt you. We want to take you back to the Garrison," Keith said as he crossed his arms. 

I felt like an idiot, obviously he was telling the truth. But could you blame us for being worried?

I spoke into the walkie again, taking a deep breath, "I'm... Sorry we didn't believe you... Or your friend. We'll let him go."

The reply was swift; "Are you going to accept terms to come with us? You'd be much safer in the Garrison. It's dangerous to be out here in Feral territory."

I furrowed my brows. _feral?_

I looked at Matt, and he shrugged. "Why not? They're offering a safe place to exist. I'm sure everyone else would be happy to go."

I nodded. "Yeah... They would." I spoke into the walkie again, "yeah, we will. I'll send Keith back and-"

"No need. We already have eyes on your camp," said the voice. 

Matt quickly looked out the doorway and we could see the lights of approaching rovers. "Holy shit, they work fast," he lamented.

"Yeah... They do." I handed the walkie to keith on my way out, standing with Matt and watching the rovers. Everyone else in our camp scrambled toward the pod, clearly not knowing what was happening. Everyone on watch aimed their guns and as the rovers parked in the middle of camp, someone stepped out of the driver's side of the one closest to us, hands high.

_Oh. Shit. That's my cue._ I pushed past the crowd of confused individuals and lifted a hand "weapons down!" There was a collective pause them a click of various guns being lowered. The man that stepped out of the vehicle was everything his voice suggested: tall, grizzled, muscular, and- subjectively- quite handsome. He was dressed similarly to Keith, with that same oxblood-red jacket.

"How'd you get here so fast," I asked. "We were barely talking for five minutes."

"We started this way the minute I noticed Keith was missing. He wasn't supposed to run off the way he did." He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He had such a demanding presence, it was hard not to be intimidated. 

"Oh, right. Matt, go get Keith." I nudged him with my elbow and he gave a little nod before turning and going back into the pod. I turned to my people, knowing they probably had a ton of questions. "So, as it turns out, we aren't the only people on the planet. Which, when you think about it, is a really good thing. These people want to help us, keep us safe."

"How do you know they aren't going to hurt us?"

"How did you talk to them?"

"Who are they?"

I was immediately overwhelmed by question after question, unsure of how to answer most of them. I shoved my hands in my jacket pocket and just as I was about to speak; lieutenant Shirogane stepped forward, addressing my people like he had known them his entire life.

"You've likely already encountered others out here, we at the Garrison call them Ferals. They're barely human anymore and aren't generally friendly to us, or anyone else outside of themselves. There's no reason that you would have to subject yourselves to the torture that is losing a loved one to their violent ways of weeding out their enemies. I would never force it upon you, but what I offer is a safe place to live and thrive. We have plenty of space and ways for you to help. You can get jobs, get married, have children. All without the worries of when the Ferals are going to attack again. I would never force anyone to join us, but I do think you'd be crazy not to accept the offer." He spoke so calmly, so convincingly. We really would be crazy to turn down an offer like this. 

There was a lot of talking and whispering amongst the group, and some were still skeptical but the overarching consensus was that even if it was too good to be true, it must be better than wondering which one our children would be dead next. 

Once the noise died down, all eyes were on Shirogane. "Looks like the floor's yours," I said. _Thank god._

"Alright, then we're in agreement. Go ahead and pack your bags. My men will help you load yourselves and your things into our rovers. We'll leave as soon as you're ready." He motioned toward the rovers and about twenty people got out of them collectively. My people immediately got to work, seeming happy to leave. 

Matt returned with keith once the crowd broke. "Here he is."

Shirogane began to speak, "Keith--" 

"No. I don't even want to start," Keith said. He crossed his arms and stormed past us, into the rover that Shirogane had gotten out of. 

The Leiutenant sighed and turned to Matt and I. "Don't mind him. Keith can be... A bit difficult at times."

"I can tell," I said.

Matt cut in, stopping any further conversation about keith, "hey, you mentioned something about salvage? We've got a ton of working tech on the ship. My sister and I were trying to repair it."

Shirogane nodded, "yeah, the general sends out regular parties to salvage from nearby cities and satellite crashes. I have an engineer with us who will sort through and separate what we can immediately use." He motioned to a man who had just gotten out of their rover and started going toward our pod. "We'd probably take the whole ship if we could... But its just way too big."

I watched the man at our pod start talking to Pidge. I couldn't hear the conversation, but she got excited and pulled him inside. I figured they had a similar love of all things technical and computer-related. 

As the sound of Shirogane and Matt faded, my mind drifted off with my own thoughts. It had been so long since we weren't struggling to stay alive. One month ago, it was oxygen deprivation and dehydration on The Aeternum. Two days ago, it was the constant fear of who may attack next here on earth. Today... Its over? I didn't know how to feel. Of course I was happy. But something about this felt off, it all just happened so fast. 

Matt drew my attention back to the conversation with a nudge of his elbow and a question targeted toward me. I nodded idly at whatever he said, but my thoughts were still preoccupied. I hoped that we really would all be safe again, just like that. 


	6. The Things we Waste our Time on, pt. 1

The trip back home wasn't incredibly exciting. The guy who nearly kidnapped me, Lance, had ridden in the main rover with me. It was fine for a while but god, he was a talker. Maybe being in space for so long made him crazy vocal. James had a lot of questions for him, and he answered happily. We found out that for about two generations, their supplies had been dwindling. There had to be four mass cullings in order to let anyone survive, which Lance seemed pretty upset to admit, but we had done some pretty fucked up things to survive too, so we had no room to judge. 

During the second night on our way back, we were caught in a violent rainstorm and couldn't continue driving. Due to the close proximity of the rovers, we could still communicate via the radio, but we were too far to be able to reach the Garrsion. 

The rain pattered on the roof of the vehicle loudly as Shiro and hunk moved to the spacious back of the rover where Lance, James, and myself were sat on the floor playing a card game. 

"The clouds are thick, so we'll be set back about a day," hunk said as he grabbed a blanket to put in his lap. 

"Do we have enough rations for that," James asked.

"We'll be cutting it close," Hunk replied, "but we should be fine with what we got from the Aeternum survivors." He motioned to lance. "Deal me in?"

Lance, the dealer, gave hunk a few cards, and asked us, "what is this noise anyway?"

"You dont know what rain is?" I asked, completely baffled at the thought.

He gave me a blank expression and said, "Hey, I lived in space my whole life. I know _what_ it is, I've just... Never seen it."

"So they never showed you videos or anything," James suggested, placing down a card.

"No, they did, but videos don't exactly set you up for... This," Lance said as he motioned to the front of the car.

"I remember hearing it when I was a kid and thinking something in the Garrison was broken," Hunk lamented, placing a card. "Then on my first night on a salvage mission, we were in a storm like this and I found out it was just the rain against the exposed concrete."

Lance chuckled, a light and sweet sound, "man, being a kid is weird. We used to watch old reruns of football games and tv shows and I could never wrap my head around the fact that it was all recorded in the past. I used to wonder how the broadcast reached us all the way up there."

"You never thought, 'hey if they're on earth, why can't I be?'," James asked.

"Nope. It's not something we really talked about. Not... Until we couldn't produce crops that is," Lance replied, looking a bit solemn. 

"I hate to ask, but I feel like I have to," I said with a brief pause. "Is there anyone else up there?"

"As far as we knew, everyone left on the Aeternum was on the pod when we left. If anyone was left behind, we don't really know anything about it," He said.

I nodded, leaning back against a crate. "So you really though you were all that was left of the human race?" 

"That's what we were told, yeah. We were told no one could've survived on earth for the past 200 years," he replied as he placed down a few more cards.

"No one could for a long time," Shiro said as he looked up from his book. "Our ancestors relied on the hydroponics and oxygen scrubbers in the bunkers. They were built at the same time as the Aeternum; For everyone who couldn't afford a ticket to the stars." 

"We were always told that they failed... That the scrubbers shut down and everyone had too much radiation exposure," Lance said.

"That did happen to some of them- the ones on the west coast. The plan was gradual exposure so that we could, one day, walk on the ground again. You had solar radiation, and we used the same radiation machines used on cancer patients," Replied Shiro. I couldn't help but notice that he failed to mention how some people could just process that same radiation without any issues. 

The topic was dropped as James exclaimed himself winning our game and Lance being upset about it, because he thought he was winning. We gave our cards back to him and he shuffled them before putting them back in their box since we'd been playing for such a long time.

"Do we have anything we could eat now? I'm starving," James said while stretching out his legs and taking up a lot of the space in the rover.

"No, and move your legs. This is a shared space. Don't be a dick," I said, shoving his legs away. 

"Sorry, princess, didn't know it was a crime to stretch," he retorted back. 

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. Hunk broke the tension that was building, breaking out a small box he keeps in his bag. "Wanna play a game of Dungeons and Dragons?"

"What's that," Lance inquired with a quirk of his brow. Hunk took a velvet pouch out of the small box and opened it, showing lance the die. 

"It's a sort of... Live-action role playing game. You choose a character, their class and weapon, and then someone else- the dungeon master, or DM- tells the story while you and the other party members decide how to respond to situations your DM puts you in."

"That sounds... Really complicated," Lance said.

"It isn't once you get into it," Hunk stated. "Wanna play?" 

lance, James, and myself agreed. James nudged Shiro and he shook his head, claiming that he's happy with his book. Hunk passed out simplified versions of character sheets, pens, and each of us a set of die. Once we finished filling out the sheets, he set the story up. He described a fantastical world of dragons and wizards, and the various problems the world had. I tended to enjoy these games whenever we played. Hunk was an incredible story teller, and it was fun to pretend you were some barbarian seeking revenge against the warlords who ordered your death. 

The game of d&d passed the time pretty well. Before we knew it, the rain had let up enough to keep driving. Shiro and Hunk returned to the front of the rover, so we all agreed to continue the game another day. 

The rest of the trip was boring, to put it simply. I was hoping to run into some Ferals, but nothing like that happened. Once we drove the rovers back into the Garrison, General Shaunda was waiting. She had a few guards with her and was standing with both hands behind her back. As Shiro spotted her, he got out of the rover and went to brief her on the mission. Instead she called me over, practically ignoring Shiro's greeting. I told the guards about the new arrivals and to take them to de-com before going to Shaunda and saluting her.

"General Shaunda," I said in greeting.

"Welcome back, Private Kogane, I assume the mission went well," She said.

"We didn't run into any trouble, no. When we arrived at the crash site we found that the surveillance team was incorrect in guessing that it was a crashed satellite. It was a pod that crash landed after being ejected from The Aeternum. We did a head count of 22 survivors. They said that they came down with 32," I told her. 

She nodded, "and they're being taken to de-com?"

"Yes. They'll be held in class-A de-com until treatment is through," I said, "Then, as they finish treatment, they will be assigned with the rehab families until proper housing is prepared for them."

"Is there anything else to report, private?"

"No, ma'am."

"Alright, thank you. You're dismissed."

I saluted and turned, walking away slowly so I could catch what she was telling my brother. It sounded like a half-assed apology for telling Shiro he was wrong about the crash. I chuckled and returned to the rovers to clean mine out, which was standard after such a long mission. James was cleaning out the back, and Hunk was carrying tech from other rovers to maintenance where they'd be sorted for scrap material. 

"Doesnt this all seem kind of off to you," James said when he heard me get into the rover.

"What do you mean," I asked with a bothered tone to my voice.

"Well, The Aeternum was supposed to be fine for another hundred years. But it's crashing after 200? That doesn't make sense."

"James," I sighed, "don't worry about it. All that matters is that it crashed with 22 people on it. Leave things like that to the surveillance team."

He just scoffed and hopped out of the rover, walking toward the incinerator. I put on my gloves and got to work collecting trash, dishes; anything that wasnt already in the rover when we got in. _He is way in over his head worrying about shit like that. Who cares that it was supposed to be livable for 100 more years? They probably just guessed wrong._


	7. The Things we Waste our Time on, pt. 2

The facility that Keith had been referring to as home wasn't much on the outside. From here, all we could really see was a sealed titanium door with water damage around the edges. I watched out the front window as Shiro radioed whoever was inside to open that door, and once it was open, what was inside was _massive._ I had never seen such a big vehicle bay. The rovers were driven into spots designated by white lines of paint on the oil-stained concrete floors. There were flourescent lights hanging from the ceiling to light the space, and cargo crates spilling over the brim with wires and metal parts were lining the walls. 

As me and my people were brought out and counted, I could see Shiro and Keith leave the rovers to speak to a middle-aged woman who I assumed was the general they spoke briefly about. I was drawn away from the distraction by a woman's voice and looked over at the source, spotting a girl with a lab coat and glasses on. She had dark skin and hair to match, but even from here I could see she had bright blue eyes that worked in beautiful contrast against her skin. 

"Welcome, everyone from The Aeternum. This facility is formerly known as one of many Galaxy Garrison Project buildings, but has been overturned as human preservation. You will be easily integrated with us, but first you must be treated for various diseases that we've found prevalent while living underground," her words sounded clear and rehearsed, like she'd said this a thousand times. "My name is Allura, and I am the head of health and radiation research in this facility. I will be looking over your treatment and rehabilitation. If you will all please follow me."

She led us directly to a room that branched off of the garage and I quickly made my way to the front of the group where Matt and Pidge were. Before I could even say anything to them, we were told to remove any extra layers we were wearing and put them in large bins that were inset in the walls. We were told they would be cleaned and returned to us. I talked to Matt as we removed our jackets, shoes, gloves, etc.

"This is pretty... Crazy, huh," I said in a low voice. 

"Yeah, it is. I wonder how they filter oxygen even just in here. They must have double sealed entrances or... Something," Matt replied. "And I wonder what she means by treatment. Obviously they're fine outside in the radiation." 

I shrugged, and Pidge stepped into the conversation. "Keith _did_ say that this place could hold over a thousand people. I doubt all of them leave for salvage. Some of them probably don't process the radiation as well as we do."

"She obviously wasn't talking only about the radiation, though," Matt said, removing his goggles from around his neck and tossing them in a bin. 

"They probably just have new diseases," I said. "It's been 200 years. Things can't all be the same as what we learned in school."

Matt nodded, and I could tell he wanted to say something but our conversation was cut short by Allura clearing her throat.

"As you finish removing your outer layers, please come into this room," She motioned to the door she was standing in front of. "Here, you will receive quick treatment before being taken to decontamination."

She quickly turned and stepped into the room, leaving the door open. I took off my shoes, dumped them into the bin, and went into that room with Matt and Pidge. I could hear other footsteps behind us and I assumed they were waiting for someone else to go first. 

This room was pristine and white and smelled clean, like a doctor's office. Immediately to the right of us was a small seating area with a double-wide set of glass doors next to it with a stairwell leading down beyond them, and to the left was an old man sitting at a desk with a computer and filing cabinets behind him. He motioned for one of us to come to the desk, and I stepped forward, sitting down in a chair in front of the desk. The guards in the room had everyone else sit in that waiting area. I could hear them whispering amongst themselves behind me. 

The man selected something on the computer and sniffled, talking to me, "alright... Before we start your treatment, we'll need to put you into our system. What's your name?"

"Uh... Lance Serrano." I spelled out my last name for him letter-by-letter.

"Birthday?"

"July 28th, 2204."

He chuckled, "oh you have the same birthday as my granddaughter. What a small world..." He inputted my birthday, "let's see... Ah, that's for the doctors to find.... Here we are. Are you chipped?"

"Oh, yeah," I said and put out my right arm. "It's here. On all of us." I pointed to where the chip is located in the inside of my wrist.

"Let's scan that." He motioned toward a small white device on the edge of the desk. It looked like a UV lamp. 

I put my hand palm-up into the device, and he pressed a button on top. It beeped and I removed my hand. I could see on the computer screen my ID number pop up. He copied it into another bar and added whatever else information came with the chip; like my medical records and allergies. 

"Alright... You're all set. Please go down hall A, and enter the first open door on your right," the old man said as he motioned his hand toward the two doors with plaques above them; "hall A" and "hall B."

I nodded and stood up, glancing at my friends before entering Hall A. I could hear the old man call someone else to his chair as the door closed behind me. Now that I was in such a quiet space, I could hear the faint buzz of the flourescent lights.

I went into the room on the right, a small room with a desk and chair, hospital bed, and various monitors near it. There was a girl sitting at the desk with her blonde hair in two buns on her head. She looked young, almost like she shouldn't actually be working as a registered nurse. She was typing at a computer and looked up when she heard my footsteps.

"Lance Serrano?" she asked with a sweet-sounding voice.

I nodded, stepping into the room a bit more.

She smiled and stood up. "My name is Romelle, and I will be administering your treatment today."

"Yeah, what exactly is the 'treatment?' I've heard that three times already and I still... Don't really know what that means."

"Oh, its simple really. Go ahead and change into those clothes while I explain." 

I walked over to the bed where a white shirt and pants were laid out. She turned her back to give my privacy and bounced on the balls of her feet.

"I didn't get much of a chance to look through your file, but you have many of the same vaccinations we already administer. However, there are three new viruses that came about after The Storm. You're going to receieve the vaccinations for those, as well as a decontamination for any dangerous levels of radiation you may have in your blood."

I was quick to strip down and change as she spoke. "So... No weird alien probing?"

"What?" She laughed, turning around when she didn't hear my clothes shuffling. "Of course not. We aren't monsters. Its a dialysis." She stepped over to a small cart where a few syringes were and pulled on latex gloves. "This'll be about fifteen minutes. Then you'll go to the showers, get some new clothes, and be shown to where you'll stay." 

She grabbed a small alcohol cloth pouch and tore it open. I pulled my sleeve up and she wiped the area on my shoulder clean.

"Do you know where i'm staying?"

"Probably just with a volunteering family. Or if they're full, one of the guards. They're all real nice and happy to help." she said as she flicked the syringe to make sure there were no bubbles left in the needle. _It sounds almost like they've done this before._

She pushed it against my shoulder where she had wiped it clean of bacteria, and I flinched when I felt it pierce my skin. 

"Damn, so I have no chance of staying with a beautiful girl like you," I said, winking at her. _What? She's cute._

She laughed, removing the syringe and popping off the used needle onto the cart. "That's cute. But I'm taken."

My face flushed. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's fine. You still seem very nice, though. This place is small, everyone knows everyone. I'm sure we'll see each other again. " She put a bandaid on my shoulder and patted the bed I was sitting on. "Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. The dialysis will take a while."

"Will it hurt?"

"Not anymore than the vaccine did." She began cleaning the inside of my wrist where IVs will be inserted. "You'll just sit here for about fifteen minutes. During that time, you can turn on the TV and I'll leave to administer another patient's treatment." I was hooked up to various monitors before she turned them on.

"These check your vital signs. If anything happens, myself or another doctor will be here immediately." Romelle then inserted the two IVs. "Ready?"

I nodded, and she pressed a button on a machine that the two IV tubes we're connected to, and I watched as new, clean blood drained through a tube. Once it reached the first IV, the second IV began to drain some of my own blood into another part of the machine. Romelle stepped over to the desk and typed something on the computer before coming back to me and handing me a remote. 

"This is for that TV." She pointed to a tv that was mounted to righthand wall and turned toward the bed. "I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

With a few clicks of her short heels, she was gone and the door was closed. I pressed the power button on the remote and switched through a few channels, recognizing a lot of what was shown. A lot of TV entertainment was brought onto the ship with shared drives, and broadcasted over the networks and it was safe to assume that people here did the same thing. I settled into the bed once I found something that looked new and interesting. _Fuck, I could get used to this._


	8. I've Never Been Very good at Making Friends

The hours between me coming back to the Garrison and being able to go to my apartment were uneventful and, honestly, really boring. I had to listen for three hours as Shaunda explained that we were raising security on the surface since one of the greenhouses were broken into. They think it was a Feral, but I already knew Ferals wouldn't get so close to the Garrison. It was probably just some kid looking to have fun and break shit.

As I left, I was already hearing whispers about some of the new arrivals. _They must already be finishing treatment._ I stepped into the elevator where Romelle was standing with that boy, Lance. She was talking his ear off and he was nodding at everything she was saying but when he looked over at me, I could see the unintentional 'help me' expression.

I felt pity for him. "Romelle, how's it going," I said as I pressed the button for my floor. 

"Oh, things are going great! We only had one little hiccup earlier with someone who was allergic to the vaccines, but luckily we were able to give him a shot of insulin before he blew up like a raspberry. He's gonna stay in de-com B until we fix the formula in order to give it to him." She spoke almost without a breath between any of her words and before she could keep going, I stopped her.

"And how's everyone else? In Medical, that is."

"Oh, we're all good too. Allura was already talking about finding a volunteer to reset the effects of being born and raised in space has on the body. She's so excited about all this."

I scoffed, feigning interest in the goings on of her lover. "That's nice." I looked at Lance. "And how are you? Couldn't get you to stop yapping on the way here and _now_ you've gone mute?" I said as I leaned on the wall ov the elevator. We stopped at a floor and two other people got in.

"No, I'm just..." He paused, searching for the right words. "Really overwhelmed. It's a lot." He vaugely motioned around him with his hands.

I shrugged, "I don't blame you. It's a big, established place; you're gonna live with a complete stranger for a while. It's definitely a lot."

"Oh! Speaking of living with strangers," Romelle added, "we're tight on space so I was actually gonna have him with you. You have that extra bed, right?"

My spirits instantly fell. I _loved_ living alone. "Why me? Why not one of the families? They volunteer for this shit."

"Because there are no open families. Be a good sport, will ya?" She reached up and pat my shoulder. "It'll be good for you."

I took a breath through my nose, staring at the ceiling with my arms crossed. "fine. Not like I have a choice."

Lance leaned back, "you're doing a great job making me feel welcome."

I just rolled my eyes and stepped out of the elevator when it hit my floor. "You coming?"

Lance's eyes widened a bit and he pushed off the wall. "Right. Yeah. Bye, Romelle."

"See you at dinner!" She waved until the elevator doors shut.

"God, she doesn't know when to stop, does she," Lance said as he caught up to me.

"Yeah, it's like you're made for each other." I put my hands in my jacket pockets, heading for the end of this hall. "Well, if she wasn't gay."

"Hey, I know when the shut up," He said in a defensive tone.

"You better. I don't plan on changing everything in my apartment just 'cause you're here," I said. "It's nothing against you, Lance. I just like living alone. I just got this place to myself."

He chewed the inside of his cheek. "No, I get it... I wouldn't want someone barging in on my space either."

When we got to my apartment, I used my thumbprint on a small device on the wall to unlock the door. The device made a happy-sounding beep and the light above my door turned green, signifying that my fingerprint was successful. The door slid open into the wall with a quiet whoosh. I stepped in and the lights turned on. 

"Come on in," I said as I started shrugging off my jacket. Lance took a few tentative steps in and the door slid closed again behind him, making another beeping sound. 

"It's kind of a mess, so don't touch anything. I don't usually expect company and if I do... It's usually Shiro and he doesn't care." I hung my jacket on a hook on the wall and pulled off my boots as I spoke. 

Lance nodded, saying it was fine, while looking around my apartment. It was small, but I had everything I needed. It was a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment; standard for guards and small families. The front door opened right between the kitchen and living room. My kitchen had no dining table, but it did have a breakfast bar. And the living room was small too, with a couch and tv and not much else. That was only because I kept the rest of the space open for my hobbies. I had boxes of art supplies against the far wall and a radio next to them. One box was spilling over with canvases that I still had to prime and there was an unfinished painting on my easel, a small foldable table stood next to it that held mason jars for paint water and brushes. 

"Take off your shoes. I dont want you tracking dirt in here," I said to Lance as I went into the kitchen. He did as I said and followed me, leaning against the counter.

"Do you know when we'll get our stuff back? I had some important things in my bag," Lance mentioned this with a tinge of worry in his voice.

"I don't reallg know any of the technical stuff, but it'll be more than a week. That stuff is covered in radiation." I took two beers out of the fridge. "How old are you?"

"Uh.. twenty-four," he replied.

I offered him one and he took it, twisting the cap open and sniffing before taking a big gulp. He pulled it away, coughing and making a disgusted face. "Oh my god, what is that?"

I was holding back laughter as I spoke, "oh my god, that was _gold._ Have you never had beer before?"

"Alcohol wasn't exactly easily attainable in space." He put the bottle down. "Can I have something to wash the taste out?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, hold on." I grabbed a glass from one of the cabinets and filled it with water from my fridge and handed it to him.

Lance took the glass and drank the water, holding it in his mouth for a moment to get rid of the beer flavor. "That was disgusting," he said as he twisted the cap back onto the bottle. 

"It's an aquired taste," I said to him as I pushed myself off of the counter. "Let me show you your room."

He followed me down the short hall, and I pointed out the bathroom and my own room before reaching his. It was a small guest room with a dresser, desk and computer, and full-sized bed.

"I won't do any permanent changes, but we can add some things to make it feel personal. The Market District is bound to have tons of things you might like."

He walked around the room, feeling the blanket on the bed and opening the drawers of the dresser. "Market District?"

"Yeah. It's a large abandoned underground train station where other bunker survivors sell their stuff. There's five bunkers connected to it. It's kind of far, so we'll have to take the maglev, but it'll give you a sense of what it's like to live here."

"Wow... This place keeps getting more complicated the more I hear about it."

"It's not bad once you're used to it," I paused for a moment, choosing my words carefully. "You're lucky it's closer to what you're used to. It won't be too much of a change."

"I guess..." He trailed off, and suddenly everything was quiet and awkward.

"Well... I guess I'll leave you to get comfortable. Dinner starts at six, and we'll go to the dining hall then," I said, backing out of the room. "I'll just be in the living room."

He nodded and I left, closing the door behind me. I rubbed my face and went into the bathroom, setting my beer down on the counter and looking at myself in the mirror. _What did I get myself into?_ I tied up my hair to be out of my face, wondering if it was too late for him to stay somewhere else. Since he was with me, they probably really didn't have much of a choice, though. 

I left the bathroom with my drink and went to my paints. I set the glass down on the small table next to my easel then grabbed one of the many unfinished paintings I had leaning up against the wall to dry, and put it on the easel. Between prepping my palette with various shades of red, green, yellow, and blue paint; I turned on my radio. I turned the volume up a few notches and got to painting, hoping it would calm me down. 

Dinnertime came quick, sounded by a few dings on the PA system. At this point I had my shirt off and my hands covered in paint. 

"Fuck..." I put my brush bristle-end down in my water cup and swished it around a bit against the bottom before pulling it out and setting it down. I quickly went into the kitchen to wash my hands free of the oils, and this is when Lance finally came out of his room. He looked like he had been sleeping, his hair a mess on one side and his eyelids heavy.

"What was that sound," He asked as he leaned against the counter with one hand.

"Dinner. Hurry up and fix your hair so we don't miss out on the good stuff," I said. I grabbed a towel off the counter and dried my soaked hands, now stained with plthalo-blue paint.

He rolled his eyes and muttered a "my hair looks fine, asshole," before going into the bathroom and turning on the sink.

I went into my own bedroom to get nicer clothes than what I'd been wearing for the past two days. Even if everyone knew everyone, I still had to look presentable. I put on some jeans that were a bit worn on the knees and a t-shirt that I liked. I decided my hair was probably too greasy to keep down and just redid the bun it was already in. When I left my room, lance was at the door and putting his shoes on. 

He was obviously still a bit groggy  as he spoke, "What do they usually make here for meals 'n' stuff?"

"Depends, I guess. They do things seasonally, and meat isn't usually on the menu. We have to be careful with livestock," I replied. I grabbed my boots and sat on a stool at the counter to put them on.

"I've never had meat," he said. _Well that's surprising._

"Really? Never?" 

"I was kinda raised in space. They didn't bring animals, I guess."

"So you've just been vegan your whole life?"

He nodded.

"You're in for a treat then," I said and got up after my boots were laced. "We may not have it tonight, but you'll get a taste eventually."

As we left the apartment and headed down the hall with a few others in front of and behind us, he started talking again.

"So, if you have a dining hall, why have a kitchen? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the dining hall and vise versa?"

"No," I said, "some people like to cook for themselves or aren't around when meals are being served. It's for convenience so you aren't fucking around in the communal areas."

"So... We dont actually have to go there?"

" _We_ do. I don't really have a lot of food in there. It's all alcohol and sweets. I really don't cook for myself." I pressed the elevator button to go down. "Not really dinner. Plus, I need to talk to Shiro and you should see your friends." 

"I can cook. Pretty good actually, if I do say so myself." He had a smug grin on his face as he made the remark. 

_What a cocky son of a bitch._

"I've been told that a lot. Guess you'll have to prove it," I said.

"Yeah, I guess I will." He smiled at me and my heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. He had the cutest dimples and his face looked so smooth. I couldn't help but smile back. Just a little. 

We didn't say much more to me on our way into the dining hall, but when we got in, Lance stopped in his tracks. His eyes were travelling across the entire room. It reminded me of my own first reaction to the hall. It was a large, communal space with wooden tables and crystal chandeliers hanging from wooden beams across the ceiling. The floors were a nice cream-colored tile, instead of concrete and stone like the rest of the facility. The dining hall was meant to be comfortable, and as soon as Lance spotted his friends, I guess he felt comfortable enough to practically sprint to them without so much as a goodbye. I tried to shrug it off and walked over to Shiro where he was waiting in line to get his dinner.

"Hey," I said, grabbing a tray. 

"Oh, hi. How's the new kid," he replied.

I got irritated that he knew the entire time that Lance was with me. "So you knew about that? You of all people should know how bad of an idea it is for me to live with someone else."

"Why not? The volunteers are full anyway. Even I had to take a few."

"Oh, maybe for the same reason Shaunda won't let me go on missions without you." I rolled my eyes. "It's bullshit." 

We moved forward in line. "This is how you're going to get Shaunda to stop worrying about you. Just show that you can live with someone else, make sure hes comfortable and has good things to say about you."

"Shiro, I'm an introvert. Not an asshole. I don't have any reason to be mean to him, but what if something happens?"

"Nothing is going to happen. You'll be fine, Keith. You got along really well with him on the way here."

I scoffed. _That's only because he didn't know me yet._

Once we reached the food, we could smell each dish almost individually. It was set up like a buffet- with piles of food on different trays or in pots. You could smell the seasonings used on the vegetables; and I spotted some fried asperagas down the line a bit. One of the first choices we were presented with was chicken. It looked grilled and smelled citrus-y, and while there were other seasonings on it, I smelled the lemon-lime pretty intensely. Shiro passed the tongs for the chicken to me, and I picked up two pieces and put them on my tray then set the tongs down for the next person. 

From here, Shiro changed the conversation, obviously not wanting to argue. I gave him short answers to show him that I was still upset. When we sat down with Hunk and a few other guards, it was near enough to the table Lance had gone to that I could hear him talking to his friends. He wss trying to stay quiet, but god can that boy's voice carry. 

"... and then she just stood there while I was getting dressed, talking my ear off," Lance said. I already knew exactly who he was talking about. 

The little one- Pidge- gave him a deadpan stare. "You're one to talk, Lance. You're the chattiest person I know."

"Hey, i'm not that bad," Lance said, defensive.

Pidge rolled her eyes. "So how's the family you're staying with?"

"Not a family... It's Keith. And he's... Fine, I guess. Didn't seem too happy that I had to stay with him. I think he hates me."

"How could he hate you," Matt stated, "he barely even knows you. And didn't you say he seemed ok on our way here?"

"What if he's holding a grudge cause we, oh I don't know, practically threatened his life?" 

"Nah, I'm sure we're good," Matt said before taking a sip of his drink. 

"Well how's whoever you're staying with," Lance asked them. 

"We got put up with his friend. Shiro, I think his name was. He seems pretty chill, and let me mess with his computer-arm," Pidge said.

"It's pretty cool. The whole thing is connected to his nervous system and he can control the screen with his mind," Matt added, clearly in awe at our technology.

I was pulled away from my eavesdropping when Shiro nudged my arm.

"Keith. Are you paying attention?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What?" I looked at Hunk.

He chuckled and shook his head, a kind gesture. "Are you ready for prelim testing? You're in the top twelve."

"Eugh. Don't even remind me about it. It's not even necessary. They've already seen my skills, and I don't really need a better apartment," I stabbed my chicken with my fork while I spoke, "I should be allowed to opt out."

"Aren't the tests pretty brutal, though? Shiro, you'd remember," Hunk said.

"That's been so long ago, I barely even do. But it's changed a lot since then. Now they're taking the initiates outside," he started cutting into his meal. "Keith, you'll have quite the advantage."

"Well fuck, I'm surprised they're even letting me go outside on my own." I took a bite out of my chicken. "Maybe they'll put a collar on me. Or better yet, track me through my arm!" I tried to be as obviously sarcastic as I could.

"Keith, you might wanna... Try and lower your voice," Hunk said. "Allura and Romelle are right over there." He motioned vaguely to the entrace to the hall.

"If they don't want to acknowledge it; that's their problem, not mine." I took another bite. "I'm not here to baby them."

As I finished talking, Allura walked by and we briefly made eye contact, myself being the first to look away. 

"There's no reason to be mad at her anymore, Keith," Shiro said. "It's all in the past."

I stayed quiet, so done with the conversation. Both Shiro and Hunk could probably tell that I didn't want to talk, and moved onto their own conversation. I picked at my food, not having much of an appetite anymore. I turned my head and listened in on Lance's conversation again, but it had moved so far from where I stopped paying attention that I couldn't quite figure out what they were talking about. I sighed and sat there, waiting for Lance since I knew he'd probably already forgotten how to get back to my apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops, long chapter is very long. I couldn't find a very good spot to switch perspectives and split the chapter, so I just made this one extra long. 
> 
> Whoops.


	9. Domestic Errands

I hadn't taken a hot shower in months. After a while, we could only give so much excess energy to heating water. But the feeling of that hot water cleaning my body and the steam of the shower is certainly one I could never get tired of. In fact, at this moment, I could have stayed under the stream of water for the rest of the day and be happy. 

Knock-Knock-Knock-Knock. "Lance, hurry up, we can't miss the maglev because of your preening!"

Unfortunately, today is not that day.

I groaned, loud enough for Keith to hear past the bathroom door. "I need clean clothes! They only gave me the one set..!"

His sigh was loud and exaggerated, followed by a begrudgingly stated "Hold on a minute."

I revelled in the hot water for as long as I could before Keith returned. 

He spoke loudly so I could hear, "are you covered?"

"Still in the shower!"

The bathroom door whooshed open, and Keith stepped in. "God, it's hot in here. He flipped a fan on to suck up all the steam. "heres some clothes, they're on the counter. You better not ruin them." 

He was quick to leave before I could say any kind of reply. I reluctantly turned the water off and was immedately shivering from the cold air beyond the shower's door. I pushed it open and stepped out onto the tile, grabbing a towel off the rack next to the shower. I rubbed at my hair first since it was already dripping, moving onto my body next. 

Once I decided I was as dry as I was going to get, I took a look at the clothes Keith grabbed for me. They were definitely his style; Comfortable, yet grungy. He did happen to include underwear, which I didn't think was too weird, but they definitely weren't a cut I would usually choose for myself. They were loose boxers and as I put them on, I was reminded why I didn't really like them; They didn't hold anything together. I sighed, and prayed we find something more fitting at the market today. 

The pants and shirt were pretty normal. A grey t-shirt and dark wash jeans that fit really well. I towelled my hair a bit more, not finding any kind of hairdryer in Keith's entire bathroom. I decided this was the best I could do and left the bathroom. 

"Ok, all I need now are my shoes and I'll be ready to go," I said to him, noticing him waiting impatiently by the door.

"Well, hurry up. We don't have all day."

I came over and grabbed my shoes. "Didn't you literally say that we had all day to shop?"

He crossed his arms. "That is not something I would say. Ever."

"No, you definitely said that." I pulled on my shoes, not bothering untying and retying the laces. "Ok," I stood up straight. "Ready."

"Finally," Keith said as he opened the door using a button on a panel on the wall.

I followed him out and down the elevator, to an underground train station. It looked old, but still reminicsent of pictures I'd seen. We completely bypassed the boarded-up ticket booths and went down a wide set of stairs, to the train platform. There were a few other people waiting, but not much. There were a few signs posted on a wall, but Keith pulled me away before I could actually read them.

"Come on, the train's coming," he said, a hand on my hard. "When we're on it, you shouldn't talk. It's just polite."

"Yeah, yeah..." 

In the distance, we could hear the train in the tunnel. It's wheel's on the tracks were loud and screeching as it slowed down it's approach. People who were sitting on benches stood up to get on the train and once it came to a full stop, the doors whooshed open; just like all the door in the Garrison. We walked in, and took two seats. I stayed quiet like I was told, but looking all around the train like a child who was excited for their first train ride.

Keith set a hand on my knee, stopping its bouncing. "Calm down... It's just a train."

I didn't even notice that I had been moving it. "Sorry," I whispered. 

It felt like we had been on the train for hours and only just a few minutes all at once. When it came to a screeching stop, Keith pulled me off and into a station almost identical to the previous one. Here, the signs weren't warnings but rather directions; to different underground locations. 

"Come on, the Market's down here."

Keith brought me to a short tunnel covered in graffiti to exit the station, and I was once again in compete awe at what I was presented with; a massive dome cut into the ground with tents and stands covering the ground. There were stairs leading up to a balcony area, which I assumed was a second level to the market. The space was made of the same concrete and tile as everything else, but it  felt so much more lively; I wasn't sure if it was just the busy-ness of the hundreds of people here, or perhaps the color and excentricity of some of the shops; but I was in awe at the sight.

"Welcome to the market," Keith's voice said next to me and pulling me out of my stupor. 

"Wha- Keith, when you said market, I thought of-"

"Something smaller? No. Theres a lot of people in most of the other facilities," he replied.

"Wow..." I looked back over the railing. "What was this place?"

"Uh.. I have no idea. We aren't as well versed in past earth knowledge as you might be." He led me away from where other people were exiting the train station and brought me toward the left side of the market. 

"So where are we going," I asked while we waited for the elevator to be available.

"Clothes... Maybe some stuff for you room as long as it isn't too big or expensive... Whatever we get, you and I have to be able to carry on and off that train," he answered.

"Are the clothes new, or...? Cause like- we had a rule on The Aeternum that we couldn't throw away any clothes, that it just had to be fixed and reused and patched." I paused for a moment. "I would love new clothes."

Keith chuckled. "Yeah, we can get new clothes... They're usually more expensive than thrifted clothes but... I'll get you something new." 

I smiled. "Thanks, that's... Really nice of you."

"Don't expect it a lot," he said as we stepped into the crowd of people walking back and forth between tents. "And we can't spend all day here. I have a job, you know."

"I know, I know."

The first tent we visited was large and colorful, the entrance decorated with tailor's mannequins displaying some cloaks that I assumed were handmade. The inside of the tent was more modest than the colors on the outside; minimal decoration in order to keep the attention on the clothes. There was a woman at the pay desk talking to a couple about the clothes, but I wasn't paying attention to them as Keith brought me to a section of clothes that I assumed were men's. 

"You'll have to try a lot of stuff on. Your long legs aren't really gonna fit into most of these," he said as he motioned toward a rack of pants and jeans on hangers.

I nodded and started looking through them, finding a specific section that was in my size and holding the pants that I liked the look of up to my body to see if they were long enough.

Most of them were not long enough.

I spent a good thirty minutes finding three pairs of simple blue jeans while Keith wandered around the tent for himself. After I found these pants, I moved on to shirts, which were a lot easier. I found a few diamonds in the rough; some baseball tees and a really soft army-green long sleeve shirt with black fabric around all of the hems. I found Keith looking through the jackets when I was done.

"Hey, I found some stuff I like," I said to him as I tapped his shoulder.

He turned and looked at the clothes I was holding. "Ok. Let's go pay."

The woman at the desk was very nice. She made small talk and I found out she was from one of the other larger underground facilities. After Keith paid using the chip in his wrist, she put the clothes into a bag and handed it to us. She told us to have a nice day before we left. 

We then went to another large tent not too far away that displayed cookware, blankets, and other home items. It looked like this is also where keith got his easel, since I recognized a nearly identical once displaying a painting. 

"I figure you might want something to make your room a little more personal. Don't pick out anything too big," Keith said to me as he crossed his arms. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know; we have to carry back whatever we get," I rolled my eyes and wandered the aisles of racks and shelves, finding myself in front of a rack displaying full size blankets and throws. I felt that fabric of each one, finding one toward the top of the shelf that was particularly soft. 

"Oh my god feel this," I took the blanket off the shelf and held it out to Keith. 

"Lance, no. I'm not going to feel the blanket."

"What? But it's soooo soft." I emphasized my point by rubbing it on my face.

"Stop that," he said as he gently swatted my hand. "Do you want it or not?"

"This is definitely what i want."

He sighed and shook his head. "Alright."

We wandered around this tent for a little longer and I had found a few other little things that I liked; a candle that smelled like cedar and crackled when you lit it, a messenger bag made of brown canvas material. Keith once again paid for the items and we left with another bag.

The rest of the market was too big for him to show me everything, but I did get to see who he buys his paints from: a sweet old lady who goes to the surface to procure flowers and plants to create the pigments that go into her paints. He said that she was the only person who sold any kinds of oil paints. 

"I'll be pretty bummed when she passes. No one else makes them like her," he told me as we headed back toward the train station. 

"Why not just ask her how to make the paint?"

"I've tried. She told me that its a family secret and that the secret will die with her." He shrugged and sat on a bench that looked dirty and slightly water damaged. 

"Oh." There was a pause of silence between us that grew quite awkward. I was thankful for the noise of other people in the station, otherwise the awkwardness would probably be even worse. I leaned on the arm of the bench, watching other people in the station. There was a man smoking not too far away from us, and a mother holding her son away from the tracks; the boy obviously wanting to get a closer look at the approaching train. 

We once again felt the wind of the train rapidly approaching and the screeching of its wheels against the tracks. As it came to a stop, Keith got up and walked closer to the still-moving train and I followed, standing a bit behind him. Once it came to a full stop; we stepped in and, seeing that there were no free spots to sit, held onto poles by the door and stood with our bags, waiting for the train to depart the station.

I examined the passengers that had filled the already-cramped space and leaned on the pole I was holding. It was so strange to see people just living their lives happily and comfortably. 

When we arrived back home, we brough the bags into my room and I put the new clothes in my drawers and set a few knicknacks on top of the dresser, arranging them so that they looked nice. This certainly wasn't my home, but having things that were mine just made it more comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was such a hard chapter to write. I rewrote it to before deciding I'll just upload this version. I wanted to show the marketplace without making it feel like too much of a mall and... I don't think I did the image in my head much justice at all. Oh well. At least I got this chapter out of the way and can try to write better ones in the future 
> 
> Side note, Happy October everyone!


End file.
